Our third co-op meeting was held at Kevin & Erin Knox’s house. Fifteen people attend – a record! A number of topics were discussed including buying a side of a grass-fed beef to assigning a committee to work on getting our mission statement hammered out and filling out the legal paperwork to become a cooperative. Once we become a cooperative we can start placing bulk orders with food distributors. Membership fees were set at $25 per household annually. A discussion about where to purchase raw milk ensued. Recently we found a company called the Jersy Farm Girls from Pueblo who will soon be moving to Florence (see Local Producers page). We had another discussion about asking Colon Orchards to truck in organic produce – Mary will follow up on that. We are still looking for local businesses and producers who are committed to offering organic/natural products.  We would like to promote their services (see Local Producers page) on our web site, so if you know of anyone who fits the bill, please contact Donia at canoncoop@gmail.com. The group discussed the possiblity of offering healthy lifestyle classes to the public. We have co-op members who are talented in a number of areas, and they would like to offer their wisdom through classes or workshops. After the meeting Kevin and Erin graciously offered a pasta meal for the group. The next meeting is schedule for Oct. 5th at John & Nancy Chase’s house – address pending.

There is no specific meaning attached to the flag, such as global warming or ecology, but it does imply some very nice messages, I think.

To me it says “This is our home. We all share this planet, and should care for it. Regardless of race, creed, nationality, we have our home in common, and must somehow learn to live together. Our planet is beautiful, a gem, let’s care for it.

We love flying our flag, and have gotten nice comments on it, and I think it helps raise awareness in a simple daily way of these positive sentiments. I would like to recommend a website, where these flags, and other universal type flags are for sale. It is

http://www.progressiveportal.org/resources/flags.html. Or just do a search for “earth flags” Wouldn’t it be neat to have more of these flying in Canon?

Post your favorite recipes here to share with everyone!

Thanks to everyone who attended the last meeting for your energy and ideas, and for welcoming Erin and me so warmly!

The first thing that strikes me is that what we can do in this exciting, early, formative stage is to try our best to live up to the word “co-operative.” It will take a while to figure out our structure and what products we’ll buy, but we can all benefit immediately by being in touch with each other and looking for ways we can work co-operatively right from the outset. Some immediate ideas we touched on:

* Going in on bulk purchases that would be unwieldy for us as individuals or families. Examples: bushels of produce for canning/freezing; sides or quarters of beef or pork; sharing Costco and/or Vitamin Cottage runs.

* Sharing information: recipes, sources of supply, etc. Obviously there is no end to this process, but a few  possibilities that spring to mind: going in on cases of wine or beer on big city runs to get great prices and benefit from member’s knowledge (I specialize in finding great sub $12 wines!); car/ride sharing; shared pet sitting, barter arrangements……for those familiar with Craigslist, we could easily have “Canonlist” as a product of our natural evolution.

OK, back to the immediate needs. I’ve called or visited web sites for many of the suppliers, and wanted to share a few thoughts.

Dry goods: It seems pretty clear that Rainbow Natural Foods (which also distributes Albert’s Organics) is the single best source for a very wide range of natural and organic staples. Once we have the legal structure in place to buy wholesale, I suggest opening an account with them, and several of us (including myself) who are familiar with many of the product lines they carry can provide some guidance if anyone wants it.

Beef: Back Country Beef (www.backcountrybeef.com) aka Oswald Cattle Company in Cotopaxi and Maytag in Hillside both do top quality aged grass-fed beef. From the looks of it Oswald is more flexible in packaging options and minimums, and a bit less costly. If we have enough people interested going in on it a half or full beef certainly seems viable.

For anyone interested in why grass-fed rather than grain fed or “finished” is the way to go, a quick perusal of Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma or an ever quicker visit to the eat wild web site linked from Backcountry Beef supplies the compelling reasons.

Pork: Mauro Farms at the Farmer’s Market runs one of the very few pastured pork programs (Torpedo Farms) in Colorado. They’re out of Pueblo and would be happy to work with us.

Poultry: Great farm-fresh eggs from Staralicious Farms at the Farmer’s Market and we could certainly support them year-round. Unfortunately the nearest suppliers of poultry for eating I have found are in the Fort Morgan area out on the eastern plains.

Beans: for many years we have been devotedly buying the Anasazi, Bollita and Pinto Beans grown by Dove Creek Farms (www.anasazi.com) aka Adobe Milling. They sell a little to Colon Orchards and City Market and would be happy to sell to us at wholesale prices if we show serious interest. These are superb heirloom beans (and they do have certified organics available).

Coffee and Tea: By definition these are not local products but having excellent sources of supply is important to many. For both products freshness is vital: coffee beans need to be bought within 7 days of roasting and whole leaf tea within 6 months or so of importation into the U.S.

At present the best sources for coffee are:

www.terroircoffee.com

www.peets.com

And for tea:

www.uptontea.com (by far the best supplier)

www.specialteas.com (a distant second)

Cleaning products: Kookebura Products out of Florence is at the Farmer’s Market and they seem like great people to work with.

I have not had time to contact dairies.

Best wishes,

Kevin

Any one shop at Costco?  What do you buy there?  What does it cost?  Are there any special deals you think we should be aware of?  One of our members does go there on a regular basis and is willing to purchase in bulk for other members.  Let us know your thoughts and requests here.

Check the website www.starwest-botanicals.com and let us know what you want to order here.